Variety of Competitions...

After a few beers in the clubhouse recently the conversation turned to competition formats and the lack of variety. An older gent told me how pairs golf used to play a big part in competitions be it foursomes or fourball. Another bloke told me how stroke play has been lost to stableford now.

He also went on to tell of a pairs comp where one person from each pairing had to use a yellow marked ball from the clubhouse. The pair would alternate the ball each hole. The purpose being that if the team returned without the ball (ie lost it) then the score would be halved thus rewarding careful play whilst still trying to play for maximum points.

This struck a cord with me as every comp ive played in has either been a stableford or a texas scramble. Not that theres anything wroung with that I love golf and it doesnt need all the gimmicks but did think a one off event would bring some fun. Especially in the spring months when the fair weather golfers are rediscovering their swing.

My question is this... What other variety have you seen/played/heard of in golf that you think would be fun to play? Or do you think golf is best without the gimmicks?

Golf is a game of how many, but this has been lost over the years to various styles of scoring which permits the higher handicap to compete. A medal round sorts the men out from the boys.

As a fun competition the society I play with are going to play a version of the yellow ball game above.  We are going to score two stableford scores on each hole from a fourball.  The twist is that each fourball has a yellow ball and the team captain has to nominate a player to play with it at the beginning of each hole.  The yellow ball player score counts as one of the two scores for the hole and then the best score of the other three is the other.

However I agree with John that it seems a shame that clubs don't organise more medals.  I also don't understand why there are no non-handicap comps.  I would have thought there would be more appetite to play off levels providing the comp split players into divisions so the abilities are not too widespread.

Any handicap system is designed so that everyone crosses the line together. We all know that, in real life, this does not happen, because allocation of handicaps under the present system just does not work.

This means that we will always be stuck with a system that is unfair to the lower handicap player as it is much harder for he better player to improve his score as much as the higher handicaps seem capable of doing.

The secret is to not treat handicap competitions as serious, just play for the fun of it. I also think that the player who submits the best gross score in any competition should be rewarded, but that seems to have gone by the board these days. Longest drive, nearest the pin, but nothing for the player who shoots the best score. Tells one everything about the way this game has gone.

Many moons ago when I held a club membership we had a matchplay ladder event that ran through the year. You could challenge up to two places above your position and play matchplay off (I think) 3/4 handicap. As these rounds were not really scored (win lose half), cards were not put in, the only requiremnt was that you had played at least one handicap event in the last 3? months. We could do something similar on Golfshake perhaps....maybe extending the "challenge range" in order to allow for geographic disparity and score both matchplay and stableford (for those wanting to track handicap)?

You should agree with me to the fullest extent Lee, as you are quite happy to have everyhing you are capable of winning in a competition, so why not a best gross score for the best player  on the day.

It appears to me that golf these days is about preventing the best player from winning anything.

Lee, a best performance by one receiving a handicap that is not genuine is not a best performance in my eyes and anyone who scores over 39 points is in that category, I'm afraid.

The best performance is by the best player, everything else is just a system to attempt to make up for the poor quality of the majority of players.

Perhaps you might change your tune were you a better player yourself, Lee. How on earth can you get excited about winning a stableford knowing that it is only the handicap that has done it for you.

My preference is for strokeplay.

To me it's all about getting the lowest possible score against the course you are playing.

Stableford to me is not the way to go but it appears to be the game of preference to most people.

I run a winter and summer league and the majority of the people who play in it want to play stableford.

The only true test of a golfer is the way the pro's do it, strokeplay with everyone off scratch.  The only problem with this method for your average club golfer is that they would never be in with a chance of winning anything!  It would always be the same twenty low handicap players who win the events.

Russ

There would not be this problem if Stableford competitions were not allowed to count towards handicap, as in the old days.

How on earth can it be right to not  finish a hole and still put a card in for handicap.

Paul, I think my point is being missed by some, or I am not making myself clear. My argument was that as the majority of competitions these days are played under the stableford scoring system and prizes are awarded usually on the highest number of points scored, together with, a prize for the longest drive, nearest the pin and even a wooden spoon for the person who came last, why is there not a prize even considered for the player who has shot the best golf on that day. That is all I was saying.

I agree with you John, there should always be a prize for the person with the lowest score for the round/day.

As you say they have all these other prizes but don't recognize the person who shot the best/lowest round.

Russ

Surely that results in high handicappers getting 20+ foot gimmee putts!?!?!?!?!?  They're the ones that they miss!!!!

My club has just started a winter league and its is a great format imo.

Random pairs drawn each week 4ball match play off 3/4 handicaps. 2pts a win, 1pt a draw.

I was unlucky on sunday as we had an odd number so i had a 3/4 H/C matchplay against a v good player :-(

If there were no string on the green rule then I cannot see what part the string is going to play in making it interesting, after all, moving a ball 24 feet on the fairways for a 24 handicapper is no advantage at all, but if that 24 feet gives him 8 three foot putts then that is an advantage.